Author: Edmund Smith

Mercury was a common component of rubberized athletic flooring for two decades, between the 1960’s and 1980’s. It was used as a catalyst with liquid polymers and other components to form a solid rubber-like material that was touted as an excellent replacement for older wood floors. Thirty years later, many of these floors are nearing…

Radon gas causes more than 20,000 lung cancer deaths in the U.S. each year, more deaths than the next two building-related deaths combined: falls in the home, and home fires. And while radon is at its most dangerous in living spaces, commercial building owners and managers, as well as some business owners, may be liable…

When the federal courthouse in Tampa was built in the 1990s, the city was in the middle of a doomed attempt to transition all government work to the metric system. As part of that move, the courthouse building was planned, designed, and constructed to metric measurements. What this meant, in practical terms, is that every...

This may be a big year for hurricanes, according to experts at The Weather Channel. It’s been ten years since the last major impact, meaning the Southeast Atlantic seaboard has experienced the longest hurricane-free streak since the 1850s. That means we’re overdue, and with a fading El Nino, we may be in for a Big...

Odor problems in a building can be both difficult to track down, and impossible to live with. In office buildings, bad smells create a noxious work environment, and lead to tenant complaints. In a retail establishment, odors can have an even more direct impact on the bottom line, in the form of turning customers away....

Renovation projects can substantially improve the value of a property, and are often a necessary part of routine maintenance. When considering a renovation project, many building owners start with a visit to the city’s building code department to get approval on plans. With that done, many property owners consider their due diligence to be complete....

Potential environmental problems on collateral property represent one of a commercial lender’s largest risk exposures. The discovery of previously unknown contamination can cause a property’s value to plummet, while simultaneously entailing remediation costs far in excess of any remaining value derived from the property. These costs can quickly become the lender’s problem when the borrower...